Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

What is Minecraft Middle-Earth?

It is a creative online collaboration project, aiming to recreate the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien. The project bases itself on the books and through an artist's interpretation, implemented into the Minecraft world.

What scale does the server use?

It depends on the area. Significant locations are generally built at a scale of 1:3. Between those locations the scale ranges from 1:200 to 1:300

Why is the server not 1:1?

Because we value sanity! Moria for instance is 85 Km long, that translates to 85,000 blocks in the Minecraft metric system! Seeing how a player travels at an average of 4.3 blocks per second, it would take you 19767 seconds, or 329 minutes, an impressive near six hour walk! Not to mention that Moria itself would take 4Gb-5Gb of disk space alone.

When was the server started?

MCME was started on Octobeber 16 2010 by q220.

What was the first area completed?

Frogmorton was the first completed town - since then it has been revamped numerous times along with the rest of the Shire. For nostalgia reasons, one can find our oldest map render here. Be warned: it is quite a heavy image, and that picture shows how we used to work in the 'old days' without Bukkit, without Worldedit, without any program.

What is the construction order that you guys follow?

We follow the path of the fellowship and build the areas in that order. Occasionally projects outside this path will be completed, such as Annuminas and Fornost.

What will happen once you guys are done?

As someone ever said: 'Work is never done, only abandoned' this applies to our work as well. We are always self-improving, iterating, and making a better world with each step we make. Once Middle-Earth is finished, we most likely will attempt the surrounding lands, or try to make a role-playing server out of it.

What era does this world take place?

The Third Age, specifically as the fellowship would have seen it. Imagine you are following closely behind the fellowship, seeing what they saw.

Whitelist Questions

Why hasn't my application been approved yet? It's almost xx hours!

We process applications through our self built application system, though an operator needs to read your application and allow you to be whitelisted. The whitelist process can take up to 48 hours. Most rejections are due to people not bothering reading our rules, as you can see by our anonymous service that hosts Whitelist statistics.

Do I have to whitelist?

Due to the collaborative nature of this project, we can't have our door open so anyone could walk in. There are people with malicious intent called 'griefers' who take fun out of destroying people their work, and the Internet spawns a lot of trolls. In order to remotely manage our population, we apply filters and selection walls, and this whitelist process is one of those.

Where do I apply for the whitelist?

A great question! You can apply by visiting this webpage.

My application was rejected! Help!

Take a breath! It will be fine. As I previously explained, the whitelist process doesn't require you to be a rocket scientist, but just have basic reading skills. It is important that you answers the questions correctly, and that you invest at least a minimum amount of time to write in the comment fields. Make your application stand out in a good way, tell us about you creativity, or show of your finished builds. You can always apply again after you've been rejected.

Project Questions

What are Projects?

Projects are large undertakings that forewent serious preparation. They usually aim to recreate a huge landmark such as Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep, Fangorn Forest, The Dead Marshes. Projects are usually split into smaller Jobs, if deemed necessary by the assigned Project Manager.

What is a Project Manager?

During the stage of preparing, the Valars responsible for Building, assigns someone as the Project Manager of a Project. This Project Manager is the person responsibly for the advancement and execution of the Project. He delegates work to other ranks by assigning them Jobs.

What are Jobs?

Jobs are smaller tasks which contribute to the whole Project. They are issued by the Project Manager or the Valar responsible for Building. Example jobs are like: building props such as houses, furniture, rooms, tents, mines, scaffolding, boats, and the list goes on!

Donation Questions

Why should I donate?

q220 pays for everything out of his own pocket, while keeping this entire project free for you! No revenue is being made in any way except donations. This makes the user experience for you as optimal as possible by not serving you intrusive or even malicious advertisements! Renting servers are a costly endeavour, and you can see the financial results here

Where does the money go?

It goes directly to an account in name of q220, and is used to fund the community.

Can I get a refund?

Refunds are covered by the Terms of Service. Refunds only happen in extremely rare cases such as double billed.

What happens with my personal data that you receive with Donation drives?

The data consists of your username, your email address linked to your paypal service, and the amount you have donated. We never publish this information. This data is kept for statistical purposes only. In case you have won a prize and q220 needs your address to ship to, he will send a message to you. This address and personal information that is gathered in case you are a winner, also is never published publicly.

I won a donation drive, now what?

In case you have won a prize, and it is a physical prize, q220 will contact you to request your name, address, postal code, state and country. This address is also stored for retrospective purposes, but is never published, q220 is the only person who has access to this information.